DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — NBC26's Hanna Lopez got a look inside the dry dock to see what’s going on with the historic USS Cobia.
Watch below to get an up close look at the historic vessel while it's being dry docked at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding:
Normally docked in Manitowoc, the World War II submarine is now out of the water at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Door County.
The Cobia was nearly a decade overdue for inspection and cleaning, having last entered dry dock about 30 years ago.
"It was past due," Wisconsin Maritime Museum Executive Director, Kevin Cullen said.
Cullen says the old warship is actually in pretty good shape.
"For us to be able to preserve this, it’s vital that we actually take care of it as regularly as we can," Cullen said.
An unexpected finding during dry dock was the presence of an invasive species. Nearly three tons of quagga and zebra mussels were attached to the hull.
"We actually had inspected underwater in the river to see how much mussel growth there was. It was inches thick, and we knew there was 100% mussel coverage so we couldn’t tell the condition of the hull," Cullen said.
Casey Lautenbach, the project manager at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, says working on the Cobia is a meaningful project for him.
"I remember going back in fifth grade and visiting the vessel, thinking it was so cool. When I went back last June to work on it, I had that same giddy feeling like a kid walking through it again," Casey Lautenbach, project manager at Fincantieri said.
Now he’s looking forward to sharing that experience with his son.
"I’m going down to the museum with my son in December for a school field trip. It'll be a lot of fun to see it back there with a fresh coat of paint and to take kids on it again and relive that experience," Lautenbach said.
The work to preserve the sub costs $1.5 million and is funded through grants and community donations.
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum says, once the Cobia returns to Manitowoc, it’ll only be a few days before visitors can step aboard this newly restored historic landmark.
